Radio 4 is very definitely not a music station but it's wise enough to cover the most emotional of human art forms. Many of its listeners' lives were shaped by music, as Desert Island Discs proves. When 4 does cover music, it does so historically, or intellectually: think of James Naughtie's interesting Making of Music series, Sarfraz Manzoor's slightly stymied doc on Little Richard or the uneven The Music Group, where panellists bring in a track of their choice to discuss.

This week Robert Winston's Musical Analysis looked at music in yet another way, by investigating the relationship between musical genius and mental or physical disability. His first programme was on Robert Schumann, who suffered from bipolar disorder. Though Winston can be pompous on telly his voice is cosy on radio, and he both knows his subject and - hooray! - does all his own interviews. This was really fascinating radio, revealing Schumann's biography and analysing his music. Writer Steven Johnson, who is also bipolar, said that he can recognise the manic element in Schumann's work. Listening to the Toccata Opus 7, he pointed out its "relentless quality... it seems exuberant, it seems it's flying and it's very exciting ... but it's breathless, it's on the edge of something frightening."

While we're on music, there was an interview in The Word magazine recently with Justin Webb, who is to replace Ed Stourton on Today. Webb revealed a frankly laughable lack of musical knowledge for someone of his age, admitting he had no idea who Radiohead's Thom Yorke was. For me, that's not good enough. The most refreshing aspect of Evan Davis, the last new boy on Today, is that he is engaged in contemporary life, that he's not just living in a politics bubble. Why would we want a younger presenter who doesn't provide a younger perspective? If we need someone who's out of touch, we've got John Humphrys. Plus, Naughtie is an American politics expert, which is Webb's speciality. It's a strange appointment.

Still, it has brought out an end-of-term aspect in Stourton: he was quite brilliant interviewing an Israeli spokesman about phosphorus shells a couple of weeks ago, and is far more likely to burst into giggles than before.